Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) plans to acquire primary care organization One Medical for almost $4 billion, adding to the growing list of the e-commerce giant’s acquisitions as it expands its reach in the healthcare sector.
Amazon to buy One Medical
The tech giant’s SVP of Health Services, Neil Lindsay, stated, “We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention.”
One Medical is a general care clinic that relies on membership fees and has almost 200 sites around the nation. It also provides virtual services. As of May, the organization has over 767,000 member patients.
Amir Dan Rubin, One Medical’s CEO, said, “There is an immense opportunity to make the health care experience more accessible, affordable, and even enjoyable for patients, providers, and payers.”
The acquisition represents Amazon’s largest health care transaction to date and is pending regulatory approval as well as shareholder approval. However, Amazon has long had aspirations in the healthcare industry.
Amazon launched a prescription and distribution service
In 2018, Amazon paid $753 million to buy the online pharmaceutical startup PillPack, and in 2020 it debuted Amazon Pharmacy as a delivery and prescription service.
The firm collaborated with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to create Haven, a nonprofit healthcare venture that aims to reduce costs for businesses’ employees and enhance the experience of patient healthcare. Haven, however, shut down in 2021 after just three years in business.
The business is not a newcomer to telemedicine. In 2019, Amazon staff launched Amazon Care, a 24/7 messaging and video service app allowing users to connect with clinicians. It started this year as a multi-national initiative.
The business also controls Amazon Web Services, a sizable cloud storage platform that houses medical records for numerous hospitals and healthcare organizations. According to the company’s website, the service features a built-in machine learning system that has been specifically trained “to read and gather health information from clinical text, like prescriptions, diagnoses, and procedure.”
Add to that the availability of Alexa voice assistants, activity trackers, and a wide range of healthcare products for ordering and delivery.
